The Muggle Phantom Menace Of Black Swamp
by HockeyWitch
Summary: The Martins a Wizarding family?? Gabriel a Man in Black agent?!? Yoda in Black Swamp?!!!! What is going on?!?!?!?!?


The Muggle Phantom Menace of Black Swamp  
  
What if the Martins were a Wizarding Family? What if Gabriel becomes a black-suited agent with shades that has to stop a giant cockroach from taking over America? What if Benjamin Martin teams up with Jedi Knights to save the day? Hullo y'all! I saw the movie, loved it, own the DVD, and watched it a lot! I really loved the story and was greatly saddened by it. It is one of my few favourite historical movies. So I have no intention of bashing it.  
  
This is my own twisted version of the movie "The Patriot". It's parodied after parts of a bunch of movies, T.V. shows, Songs and books, mainly from Harry Potter, Men in Black, An episode of Buffy called, "Once More With Feeling" and Star Wars. This parody is about the movie and its characters, not the real historical figures, and is all for pure craziness and entertainment. So I mean no offense in writing this and please don't be offended. I will be making disclaimers with every chapter, so I will be posting whenever I will be using parts of other movies and other media related sources. I am not a big fan of plagiarism, never was and never will.  
  
In this fic, William Tavington has a son named Draco. You know, for those who have seen Harry Potter, he played Lucius Malfoy. So in this fic, he also has a son named Draco. Also, Thomas gets to live longer.  
  
Well, I hope you'll enjoy this piece of craziness.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own "The Patriot", Harry Potter, the songs "The Sound of Music" and "Happy Days", and all the other movies, T.V. shows, books and songs I'll be using to parody in this fic, which I will mention in my future disclaimers.  
  
And so it begins..  
  
A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away.  
  
.there was a plantation seven miles from Wakefield on the Santee East of Black Swamp, somewhere in South Carolina. On the plantation was an average- sized house built of bricks and wood, which resides a family by the surname of Martin. It is a family, which consists of a muggle father, minus a witch mother, who was deceased, seven children, a black muggle nanny, and a couple of Black muggle people working for the Martins as freedmen. It was an otherwise normal family despite some 'abnormalities', according to neighboring muggles. It was the year 1776, and life was good. Little did they know that their lives were going to drastically change forever.  
  
One typical sunny day.  
  
A girl named Margaret who is around eleven sat on the front porch with a quiet little girl by the name of Susan, who was four years old and is staring blankly back at her, and a small boy by the name of William, who was six years old and looked like he is falling asleep. Their older sister had been holding up cardboard cards with words on them.  
  
"Levitation?" she asked for the tenth time with exaggerated impatience, "C'mon! Both of you know this!"  
  
"Wingardurosa.?" William answered, yawning. Susan stared into space.  
  
Throwing up her hands, which sends the card flying into the air, she groaned loudly, "Wingardium leviosa! Wingardium leviosa! We've been through this /over/ and /over/ and /over/! How will you /ever/ advance if you don't get these simple things in your heads?!"  
  
"Um, maybe it's because they don't even know how to read yet?" a mocking voice unexpectedly answered.  
  
Shrieking, Margaret whirled around faster than a tornado and came face to face with two of her older brothers, Nathan and Samuel by the age of thirteen and twelve.  
  
"Ooh, we scared Shriekie! She sounds exactly like our mandrakes!" Samuel teased, laughing hysterically along with Nathan, who was shrieking. Margaret gave them exaggerated looks, putting her hands on her hips.  
  
"Ha, ha. Laugh all you want. At least /I'm/ ahead of the both of you! Besides, you can't even do it properly."  
  
"Oh yeah?" Nathan quirked an eyebrow, "I'll show /you/ how it's done!" He whips out a 12 ½ inches long wand with an elegantly carved handle before clearing his throat and points it at a small juice-filled glass right beside Margaret.  
  
"Wingar-DIUM levio-SAA!!!" he enunciated pompously. Nothing happened.  
  
"Wingar-DIUM levio-SAA!!!" he tried again, wrinkling his eyebrows in frustration. Still nothing happened. His younger siblings began to stifle their giggles. Being the oldest of the five, he naturally felt embarrassed at not being able to perform a simple charm, such as levitation and was getting red in the face quick. He flicked it violently until sparks flew dangerously out of the tip. "Come on! Work!"  
  
After five minutes of useless wand waving and a somewhat red right hand, Nathan finally gave up. "Stupid.useless.thing!" he banged the wand violently against the railing, which inevitably broke in half.  
  
"Augh!!! My wand! MY WAND!!!" Nathan shrieked, horrified. The others were laughing freely now as he cradled his wand like a child would cradle a bird with a broken wing.  
  
"Tsk, tsk," Margaret shook her head reprimanding, "You know? You should learn to control that temper of yours, "What would mother say. First, you're in your third year at Hogwart's but you can't even do a simple spell, second you lose your temper, then you break your wand.again!" She ticked off a finger with every point. And to add insult to injury, "Besides, aren't you supposed to be /working/ on your transfiguration homework, /which/ you'll be needing a wand, and NOT playing Quidditch?"  
  
Grumbling, Nathan stomped his way into the house and up the stairs, croaking, "My wand, my wand...."  
  
"And /you/!" she turned to her other sibling, "You're supposed to be working on your sleeping potion!"  
  
"But, but.It's /summer/! We don't go to school for another two months! Besides I don't even start that until fourth year, and I've just finished second year!" Samuel protested.  
  
"No 'but's'! I said so. In the house, now!" Margaret stared him down as she pointed towards the door.  
  
Copying Nathan, Samuel stomped in the house, grumbling.  
  
Both Susan and William gave Margaret a look that suggested, 'What the hell was that all about?'  
  
Margaret exchanged this with a shrug, "What? They /were/ supposed to do their homework. Besides, they should know better. Playing quidditch when they were supposed to be preparing for next term. What would the others say? It would be a disgrace that a family so highly regarded by the Wizarding world such as ours would have two imbeciles neglect the work that is going to shape them into the great wizards they are expected to become. We want to uphold our reputation as 'The Best International Hogwart's Students'. Look at Gabriel: graduated from Hogwart's on the Top Three, has the highest number of O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T., House Boy, Gryffindor Prefect, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the youngest seeker in the century at twelve, number one prospect for the American National Quidditch team, Hogwart's Triwizard Champion, a candidate for the Order of Merlin, a member of the British and American Ministry of Magic, winner of the Wizarding Medical Award for finding the four hundred uses of phoenix tears, and of course the Heir of the Martin Plantation. Did you think that I would allow those two to let an opportunity for them to be like that to just slip away? NO! We MUST up hold the family honor!!! WE MUST BE THE VERY BEST WE CAN BE!!!"  
  
By the time she finished, Margaret found herself standing on a chair with a fist in the air, panting heavily. William and Susan blinked back at her blankly.  
  
"Hey! Do you think you children could keep it quiet?!" came Abigail's voice from inside the house, "I'm had just gotten your baby dragon to slee-!!"  
  
There was a loud *bang* as the whole house jumped ten feet into the air before landing back down with an almighty crash. Smoke was coming out from every open space in the house. Margaret, Susan and William were sent flying from the balcony onto their rear ends, covered from head to toe in gray soot and their hair disheveled. The three of them looked at each other, eyes wide with horror.  
  
"Abigail!"  
  
They leapt to their feet and were soon in the kitchen to find all the furniture, pottery, utensils and kitchen stuff blasted to splinters and unrecognizable pieces, Abigail, their nanny, lying on the floor all covered in soot and knocked out, and the baby Norwegian Ridgeback, which was secretly adopted by Samuel and Nathan, looking at them innocently.  
  
Samuel charged down the stairs and joined them in a millisecond.  
  
"What happened?!" Samuel gasped, coughing up smoke.  
  
"What do you think happened?" retorted Margaret cocking her head towards the dragon, "your poor excuse for a 'pet' nearly blasted our house to the Netherworlds!"  
  
"He didn't do it! I swear!" Samuel cried, running towards the little green hued dragon and embracing his neck, "Sweetie didn't do it!"  
  
"Oh, pish, tosh!" Margaret waved her hand dismissively, coughing up smoke, "we've got to fix the house before father gets back."  
  
Suddenly, they heard a strong tenor voice singing at a distance.  
  
"The hiiiiiiiiiiilllllllsssss are aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive. Wiiiith the sooouuuuund of muuuuuuuu-siiiiiic... With soooongs they have suuuuuuuuuung. For a thousand yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaars!!!"  
  
The children groaned.  
  
"Oh, no. He's coming! Quick!" Margaret cried frantically. She takes out her wand, and with the swish and flick motion of her right hand, enunciated, "Reparo!"  
  
Splinters came flying from all over the place and began to come together at the center and soon, there was the table in the condition that it was in before.  
  
"One down, gazillions more to go. Well, help me!" Margaret threw her hands up in frustration.  
  
"What about Abigail?" William asked meekly. He was standing in a corner, holding Susan's hand.  
  
Margaret seemed to consider this for a moment before shaking her head, "We'll deal with her later."  
  
While she and Samuel painstakingly began to fix every big and little thing in the kitchen, not to mention everything else on the first floor, two more figures approached the house from a distance.  
  
"Quick! We'd better stop father before he embarrasses everybody!" Gabriel, a stout and beautiful man of eighteen with blonde hair, chocolate eyes and a tanned well-built body, the eldest of the Martin children, graduated from Hogwart's on the Top Three, has the highest number of O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T., House Boy, Gryffindor Prefect, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the youngest seeker in the century at twelve years of age, number one prospect for the American National Quidditch team, Hogwart's Triwizard Champion, a candidate for the Order of Merlin, a member of the British and American Ministry of Magic, winner of the Wizarding Medical Award finding the four hundred uses of phoenix tears, and of course the Heir of the Martin Plantation, panted as he and his brother Thomas ran towards the house, "This is all your fault!"  
  
Thomas, a lanky boy of fourteen, with dark hair, pale eyes, skin complexion that suggested that the boy had never been let out of the house due to severe illnesses and a scar on his forehead with the shape of a thunder bolt attained from an 'accident', rasped out to his healthy brother, who was trailing him about fifteen feet away, "Well, don't look at me! I was only trying to *pant* help father *cough* relieve his migrains! How was I suppose *wheeze* to know that belladonna *gasp* was suppose to come before *pant* phoenix tears?! Plus those two idiots Nathan and Samuel *wheeze* put that singing toffee in my potion! No more!" With that, he collapsed to his knees, wheezing. He felt a strong arm hauling him to his feet a minute later, and heard Gabriel snap, "Come on! Something's the house is smoking!"  
  
"Why can't we just fly on our broomsticks?" Thomas wheezed, again fifteen paces behind Gabriel.  
  
"You see, that's the problem with you! You don't exercise, always taking the easy way. Otherwise, you'd be a healthy beefcake like me!" Gabriel shouted over his shoulder, beating his chest once, and then running back again to his brother, this time dragging by the arm him to the house.  
  
"Father said, I should take it easy. You know how sickly I've been ever since you gave me this scar!" Thomas protested, pointing at his forehead, "You know I've never been right since that time you hit me with a bludger! Thanks a lot!"  
  
"My pleasure," Gabriel replied unconcernedly.  
  
"The hiiiiills fill my heeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaart. With the souuund of muuuuuu-siiiiiiiiiiic. My heart wan to siiiiiiiing. Every song it heeeeeeaaaaaaaaars!!!!!!!!"  
  
A couple of yards from the house, Gabriel stopped and looked back an fourth from his house, which was still smoking horribly, but was not on fire, to his father, Benjamin Martin, now very visible and still singing his brains out. He pondered through the dilemma whether to look after his house or to go silence his father before he embarrasses himself. He looked at the house. He heard frantic voices and things flying all over the place.  
  
"Hurry up! Sam! I hear people coming!"  
  
"I'm trying! I'm trying!!! Rictusempra! Oops! Sorry Susan! Reparo!"  
  
'Looks like the runts have got it all under control,' he thought. He turned to look at his father, now closer.  
  
"I go to the hiiiiiiiiiiiiiills. when my heart is loooooooone-liiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee. I know I will heeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaar. what I've heard beeeeeeefooooooooooore"  
  
'On the other hand maybe not. How embarrassing!' He countered. He turned back to his house.  
  
*Crash!*  
  
"Ow! That hurt!"  
  
"Sorry, Meg! I thought I used the right spell."  
  
"It's the same charm that we've been using for the past forty-five minutes and thirty eight point nine seconds!"  
  
'Uh, have they got the house under control?' Sweat dropping, he turned back to his father again, who was getting darn closer.  
  
"My heart will be bleeeeeeeeeeeeessed. with the Sound of Muuuuuuuu-siiiiiiiiiiiic"  
  
'Mommy!' He turned back to the house again sweat dropping even more. Thomas was starting to feel heavy. He needed to choose quickly.  
  
"Hurry!!!! Hurriiie!!!!"  
  
"I'm /trying/, Samuel! Where's Nathan?!"  
  
"Dunno!"  
  
He turned to his father, now within talking distance and waving his hand with a big million-dollar smile.  
  
"And I'll sing once mooooooooooooooooooooooore!!! Hello boys! How's it going! (singing) Sunday, Monday happy day, Tuesday, Wednesday happy day, Thursday, Friday happy day, Saturday, what a day, Groovin' all week with yoooooouuuuuuuu."  
  
He cried out, as if he'd seen a ghost. 'A sign! A sign! Quick, I need a sign!' Gabriel prayed, sweat dropping so that he was drenched in sweat from head to shoulder.  
  
"Oh, where /are/ Gabriel and Thomas when you need them?!"  
  
"Thank you, Lord!"  
  
Having had his problem solved for him, Gabriel pulled out his wand, which was a 13 ¾ mahogany with dragon heartstring as its magical core, from his bag and aimed it at his father shouting, "Petrificus totalis!"  
  
He watched as Benjamin Martin's arms and legs slapped together, his body going stiff as a board and his face go from happy to surprise as his mouth shut tight. He then fell backwards with a loud thump that reminds one of a slab of stone falling.  
  
"Sorry father! I'll get you after I take care of some business!" Gabriel apologized.  
  
It was long before they got to the house, with Gabriel having to carry Thomas over his shoulders, who was fast asleep from exhaustion and too much sun. Gabriel opened the front door and was greeted by a wall of soot and white smoke, which literally knocked him off his feet. He fell on his rear end with a 'thump' and Thomas' head hit the floor with the same sound. It seemed like hours, when it had only been five seconds, before he was brought to consciousness. He opened his eyes and saw blurry colours. It took a few seconds and a couple of blinks before everything came into focus. Margaret stood in front of him, her arms akimbo and her expression grim.  
  
"Well, well. It's about time both of you showed up!" With that, she ran back inside the house and resumed what.  
  
Gabriel only shook his head in bewilderment, "Okay."  
  
"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Thomas gurgled rubbing his head. He was awake.  
  
Both Gabriel and Thomas got to their feet and went in the house, coughing waving their hands around to deflect smoke away from their faces. As their eyes adjusted, the living room that greeted their eyes was reminiscent to the Ground Zero of Hiroshima in our times. They gave Samuel questioning looks.  
  
The second youngest boy shrugged, "I didn't do it." William and Susan shook their heads in agreement.  
  
"What DID I tell you about keeping that dragon in the house?" Margaret called accusingly from the kitchen, "Now the Ministry'll be bugging us. And I sure hope the'll take that monster away!"  
  
"No!" cried Samuel, shaking his little blonde head vehemently, "He didn't do it! I swear! Cutie's just a baby!"  
  
"Cutie?" Thomas scratched his head with a look of incredulity.  
  
Gabriel's head perked up in interest, "We have a dragon? Since when? Why hasn't anyone told me? What's its breed? How old is it?"  
  
"A Norwegian Ridgeback," Samuel chirped, "Nathan and I found him in a ditch and was hurt because a couple of muggles were stoning it but we rescued it. Nathan wanted to name him Macho-Man, but he doesn't like it. I wanted to name him Cutie and he's liked that name and answers to it, so Cutie it is! We're guessing he's about three month old, so we're keeping him until it's mommy finds him."  
  
"Which is precisely why we can't keep him in the house!" An angry voice interrupted him. The three boys whirled around, startled, and faced Margaret's slightly red face.  
  
"Where is he? Can we see him?" Thomas insisted excitedly heading to the kitchen, where curiously odd squawks and whinnies emitted.  
  
"No you may not!" Margaret firmly twisted his ear, leading him back to the living room, "There are other things to worry about, like the house!"  
  
"Ow! Alright! Alright! I get the point!" Thomas whimpered.  
  
"You'd better.Now, Gabriel, you start with the living room. Thomas, you start with the bedrooms. Samuel, you help me with the kitchen."  
  
"Wait, wait, little lady. Who are you to give such orders?" Gabriel stepped up and stared her down the way older sibling do, "In case you haven't noticed, I am the man here. And I say, I have a better idea."  
  
"Like what?" Margaret perked an eyebrow.  
  
"In case you haven't noticed, I am the eldest of the Martin children, graduated from Hogwart's on the Top Three, has the highest number of O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T., House Boy, Gryffindor Prefect, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the youngest seeker in the century at twelve years of age, number one prospect for the American National Quidditch team, Hogwart's Triwizard Champion, a candidate for the Order of Merlin, a member of the British and American Ministry of Magic, winner of the Wizarding Medical Award finding the four hundred uses of phoenix tears, and of course the Heir of the Martin Plantation. I say we toss a coin to see who's to do the hard work around the house!"  
  
Margaret blew a raspberry through her lips then snorted, "How manly!"  
  
"Oh, oh, oh! I know! I know!" Samuel jumped up and down excitedly.  
  
Everybody ignored him, which made him pout.  
  
"Why don't we settle this with Wizard's Chess?" Thomas suggested meekly.  
  
Everybody stared at him for a few seconds.  
  
Thomas shrugged, "What?"  
  
Silence. Gabriel and Samuel then burst out laughing.  
  
"How /manly!" Samuel mimicked, Margaret, tears threatening to spill from his eyes from laughing so hard.  
  
"Why, of course! Only the gimpy captain of the Wizard's Chess Club would suggest that! Bwaa ha ha!!!" Gabriel joined Samuel on the floor, clutching his sides.  
  
"It was only a suggestion," Thomas protested defensively, "I-I mean, it was only a joke!"  
  
Samuel rolled his eyes, "Sure."  
  
Margaret buried her face in her hands, "Grahhh! Men are useless!"  
  
The men were too occupied to hear her comment.  
  
Suddenly, as if a light bulb had appeared above her head, she snapped her fingers with an 'Of course!' Then as if remembering something, Margaret raised her wand and did an elaborate twirl before enunciating, "Cunctus reparo!"  
  
There was a momentary blinding flash of white light followed by a gush of wind. As if every splinters and broken pieces had lives of their own, they began to fly all over the place looking for their respective pieces. The boys watched in shocked amazement as chairs, silverware, cupboards, stands, coffee tables, windows, books, and you name it, began to take shape. In a blink of an eye, everything is back to the way they used to be before the house 'flew up'.  
  
Grinning, Margaret turned back to them, arms folded. The boys blinked back and she shrugged and left the room.  
  
"Women!" Thomas huffed, throwing up his arms, "I just don't understand them! They make a fuss about people not doing something, when in fact, they already know how to do everything!"  
  
"I hope you're not talking about /all/ women," Gabriel replied, "Because that would just be biased, hmm?"  
  
"Well, no! Of course I wasn't! I-I simply mean that.you know, Margaret! I wasn't talking about all women! Come on! You know what I mean." Thomas babbled frantically but was cut off.  
  
William and Susan emerged from the kitchen.  
  
"Where's father?" William asked.  
  
Gabriel's eyes widened in realization, "Oh, shoot!" He was just about to bolt off to get Benjamin Martin, who was probably roasting under the sun at this time, when they heard a fluttering of feathers and a hoot.  
  
"Mail!" Thomas and Gabriel yelled at the same time and bolted for the family room.  
  
Sure enough, a small peach-coloured tawny owl came soaring into the house. Had it not been for the fact that Gabriel opened the window at the last second, the feathered messenger would have become a peach slat on the window. Instead, the bird collided with Thomas' face, bowling him to the ground. The tawny shook itself off Thomas, ruffled itself then perched on his chest, screeching happily.  
  
"Thanks for the warm hello, Skull. I needed that!" Thomas grunted before starting to untangle the twine that attached a small stack of parchment and letter, but someone swat his hand away.  
  
"Hey!" he called angrily, "That's mine!"  
  
Gabriel grabbed the owl by the neck, which made it flutter its wings and screech in irritation, untangled the twine and freed the owl from its parcel before tossing the owl out of the window. He started going through the letters, tossing them over his shoulders as he read the addressees, each one landing on Thomas' face.  
  
"Hogwarts.Hogwarts.Hogwarts, boring stuff.Ministry, probably a promotion.King Arthur's Wizard's Chess Club, puh-leaze.Hogwarts.oh.This one's for father. Father!!!"  
  
As if on cue, the front door slammed open, and there were frantic voices.  
  
"Oh, father, it's okay! We're doing this nice and slow.How could those heathens do this to you?!? Samuel! Easy on father! He's horribly burned!"  
  
There were crashing and banging as Margaret and Samuel carefully levitated Benjamin Martin, who was still petrified. Large thin patches of skin peeled on his face and he was as red as a tomato. If it weren't for the fact that the men in those times word long sleeved shirts, knee-length trousers, and knee socks, then the damage would have been more severe. They carefully set him down as Gabriel and Thomas entered the living room, only to get an angry and bewildered glare from their father as he was being laid down on the floor.  
  
"Uh, oh." Gabriel started.  
  
Margaret turned to give Gabriel and Thomas murderous looks, "Alright! WHICH one of you DID this to father?!"  
  
"He did!" Gabriel and Thomas shouted at the same time, pointing at each other accusingly.  
  
"I told you! Tell me all about it later!" Gabriel slapped Thomas' thin shoulder before heading upstairs with a devilish grin.  
  
"Hold it right there, Gabriel Edward Martin! Don't make me do to you what you did to father!" Margaret called after him, waving her wand threateningly.  
  
Gabriel sheepishly walked back beside Thomas, who shot him an equally devilish grin.  
  
When Margaret opened her mouth, it was like a verbal machine gun, spitting out angry words, "How disgusting! Leaving father in the field, all petrified under the sun! Just because he is a muggle, doesn't mean that they could take liberties with him."  
  
"I wasn't taking liberties with him! Honestly!" Gabriel shot back in hid defense, "He was singing."  
  
"Oh, so you just found a way to 'shut him up' by pertif.," Margaret began to shoot back, voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
Thomas stepped between them and held up both hands, "Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! Could we just do this rationally?"  
  
Margaret and Gabriel whipped their heads and yelled, "Shut up!" They then assumed arguing.  
  
Thomas slumped down on an armchair, sulking.  
  
"Hey! It wasn't my fault that you imbeciles blew up the house again!" Gabriel shouted.  
  
Margaret, now sounding like a Howler, shot back, "Oh, yeah? It wasn't my fault that you wouldn't listen when I told you that /your/ imbecile brothers were secretly harbouring a Norwegian Humpback."  
  
"Ridgeback," corrected Samuel, who with William and Susan, was now tending to Benjamin Martin's red and peeling face with Margaret's healing potion, which to everybody's relief, was very very effective.  
  
"Whatever. The point is, we'll have to 'obliviate' the witnessing muggles and inform the ministry right away about the."  
  
"Yeah, 'obliviate' half the town ourselves and get into deep shit with the Ministry! My idea of fun!" Thomas retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
Everybody's heads, and Benjamin's eyes, swiveled to look at him in stunned surprise.  
  
Thomas frantically moved his eyes around and shrugged, "What?"  
  
"Did you just swear?" Samuel asked, appalled.  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"Get the soap!" Margaret wailed angrily, "Nobody in this room heard that!"  
  
"Um, I think we should tend to father first." Gabriel interrupted, changing the subject quickly, nodding over Margaret's shoulder to their father, and noting that their three youngest siblings were watching. So trying to set a good example, he knelt down and began to speak soothingly, "Father, it's going to be alright. I will get you out of this."  
  
Raising his wand, he opened his mouth to say something, but Margaret placed a hand on his.  
  
"Wait!" She also knelt down beside her father before saying, "Now father, don't be afraid. You have been petrified, but there is a counter curse. Now, I want you to promise us that you won't move after we've loosened you."  
  
Benjamin Martin's eyes, the only parts of his body that were able to move and express something seemed to comply.  
  
Margaret raised her wand, but thought better of it. "You do it, since you are responsible."  
  
Gabriel grumbled, but he picked his wand from the floor, which he had dropped trying to get the mail, raised it and enunciated, "Finite incantato."  
  
Benjamin Martin's arms and legs sprang apart as his body relaxed. But instead of complying with Margaret's orders, he sat up rapidly, and slumped back down again, hitting his head on the ground. But Gabriel wasn't done yet.  
  
"Father, I'm really, really sorry about this."  
  
Before Benjamin had a chance to take in what's really going on, let alone say anything, his eldest son had raised his wand and 'obliviated' him. The others were gathered around, peering at him. Benjamin stared up at his children blankly.  
  
"Uh, Gabriel, do you think that was a good idea?" Thomas began slowly.  
  
"What's a good idea?" Benjamin said a few seconds later, blinking. "Why am I lying on the floor? And why am I in pain?"  
  
Surprised, the children fell back, looking at each other, not knowing what to say.  
  
"Um."  
  
"Well, we."  
  
"Uh."  
  
They all stuttered.  
  
"Father, drink this," Margaret had quickly dashed to the kitchen to get a small flask filled with clear emerald green liquid, which she uncorked and tipped to Benjamin's mouth, "It'll make you feel better."  
  
Giving Margaret a look, Benjamin reluctantly allowed Margaret to empty the contents of the liquid into his mouth, and he swallowed while holding his breath. A cool sensation spread throughout his body and replaced the pain that had filled his body from the sun. Feeling he could be able to move, he slowly got up and sat down on a really comfortable armchair. He heaved a relaxed sigh before speaking  
  
"Thank you Meg. Now, what's in the mail?"  
  
Gabriel quickly went to the family room to retrieve the scattered mail from the floor before heading back to the living room. "Um, the usual mail. Hogwart's mail. Must be final marks.Margaret, here's yours.Samuel, here's yours.Thomas, here you go. ~*snort*~ Wizard's Chess.Nathan, here you.hey, where /is/ Nathan?"  
  
"Probably still upset," William piped in, "He broke his wand again, papa."  
  
Benjamin shook his head, "That boy. That was the fifth wand I bought for him in the past three years! Does he know how much trouble I go through just getting to Diagon Alley?! I mean, I'm not a Wizard. You know how they treat.what do you call us.Muggles? Oh, never mind!"  
  
"We understand, father," Gabriel patted his shoulder sympathetically, "I'm working with the Ministry on a law which will hopefully abolishes discrimination against non-wizarding folks like you, father."  
  
Thomas snorted, "How do you abolish discrimination?"  
  
"Because I say so. After all, I graduated from Hogwart's on the Top Three, has the highest number of O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T., House Boy, Gryffindor Prefect, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the youngest seeker in the century at twelve years of age, number one prospect for the American National Quidditch team, Hogwart's Triwizard Champion, a candidate for the Order of Merlin, a member of the British and American Ministry of Magic, winner of the Wizarding Medical Award finding the four hundred uses of phoenix tears, and of course the Heir of the Martin Plantation. So, naturally, they have to listen to me because my word is law. Simple as that." Gabriel smiled and winked.  
  
Margaret quirked an eyebrow and whistled, "Somebody has a big ego."  
  
"That's my boy!" Benjamin beamed with pride, "Always doing things for the greater good. I'm very proud of you, son. And I'm sure you're mother's just as proud as I."  
  
Samuel and Thomas snorted. Margaret nodded firmly in approval with an audible 'Mmm-hmm!'.  
  
"So, anyways, what's for me in that mail?" Benjamin asked, looking up at Gabriel expectantly.  
  
"Oh, um.here you go, father. It's from Charlestown," Gabriel handed the letter to him.  
  
The children listened intently as Benjamin red the letter quietly. They picked up words like, "catastrophe", "casualties", "giant craters", "giant cockroaches", "recruiting agents" and things of that nature. After reading, Benjamin folded the letter properly, placed it on his lap, then met the children's expecting faces, smiling.  
  
"Guess what?" he asked rhetorically, "The assembly's been convened, so."  
  
"~*gulp*~ W-we're going t-t-to Ch-Ch-Charlestown?" Thomas finished the sentence with a trace of horror.  
  
His father responded with a flick of his index finger and a smile, "Yep!"  
  
There were general groans from the children. Benjamin was taken aback and his smile disappeared, "What's this? I thought you'd be excited. Don't you want to see Aunt Charlotte?"  
  
Margaret stepped forward. "Well," she began reluctantly, "It's not that, really. It's just that, well, you know?" She looked back at her siblings with a reluctant expression as if holding back what she wanted to say. The rest of them nodded with her in agreement with the same expression on their faces that suggests that they were agreeing with her on something only their father didn't know about.  
  
Benjamin gave a careless wave of his hand, "Ah, then there's nothing to worry about! Come on! Let's start packing! Chop-chop!" With a clap of his hand, he stood up and left the room.  
  
The children gave another round of groans.  
  
"Charlestown?! We're going to Charlestown?" Thomas croaked, his face not getting anymore paler that it is already. He slumped down on the armchair that Benjamin sat in a moment ago, "Could it get any worst?"  
  
"Well, hey! Look on the bright side! At least we get to see Aunt Charlotte!" Samuel piped in, hoping to get everyone in an optimistic mood.  
  
There were general agreements of "True, true." And "Yeah."  
  
"And I might see.," Gabriel began before he could finish.  
  
"See who?" quipped in Samuel, a curious grin on his face.  
  
"No one," Gabriel quickly said, trying hard not to blush, "Hey, we've cleaned the first floor! At least we won't leave it looking like a herd of caribou stampeded over it."  
  
Before anyone could reply to this, they heard footsteps trudge down the stairs heavily. They turned their heads to see Nathan enter the room, his hair all over the place, clothes torn with little patches, and covered from head to toe with soot.  
  
"My wand.," he croaked.  
  
So it's off to Charlestown..... 


End file.
